Teacher arrested on charge of gang-rape in Gujarat

The police have arrested a teacher of a primary school and are on the lookout for two other teachers who have allegedly gang-raped a teacher at Kadi in Mehsana district in north Gujarat for more than eight months.

The incident came to light after the victim, a 25-year old lecturer of a primary teachers' certificate college, attempted to commit suicide by consuming a large quantity of mosquito repellent, and was admitted to the Kalol civil hospital in an unconscious state. She is still unconscious and the police are waiting to record her statement, but a note she left on her bedside revealed the incident.

The police said that in the note, she had named three persons, all teachers of different government primary schools. Mukesh Patel, a teacher of the Narsinhpura Primary School at Kadi, helped her land the lecturer's job, but started demanding sexual favour in return. This was going on for the past eight months or so. Of late, he started bringing in two of his friends, Ketan Thakar, and Dinesh Patel, both teachers of the government primary schools in Kadi and Viramgam. As she refused, she was beaten up by Mukesh Patel. The three also threatened to release her nude photographs they had taken.

Tired of their blackmail and constant demand, she decided to end her life by consuming poison. Her father, Madhukar Patel, found her unconscious and rushed her to the Kalol civil hospital before lodging a complaint with the Kadi police. The police have arrested Ketan Thakar, while the two others are at large.

This incident was similar to the one that occurred in the neighbouring town of Patan, where a student of the primary teachers' certificate college was gang-raped by six teachers of the college for what has come to be known as “sex for marks.” They lured the girl by giving her “passing marks” She was gang-raped for more than six months till, one day, she became unconscious in the college. On being rushed to the hospital, she confided her ordeal in a lady doctor. She was recently given a job by the State government at a Mehsana school.